Characterization and Ranking of Various Mix Ratios of Cow, Pig and Sheep Manure

This work determined the characteristics of various mix ratios of the cow to pig to sheep manures and ranked them with help of principal component analysis (PCA). Ten mix ratios (by mass) namely 1:1:1, 3:1:1, 1:3:1,1:1:2, 2:1:1, 1:2:1, 1:1:2, 1:3:3, 3:3:1, 3:1:3 of cow, pig and sheep manures respectively were selected. Laboratory analysis was done to determine the total solid (TS) content, carbon to nitrogen ratio, pH, and volatile solid (VS) content using standard procedures. The results obtained (except that of pure feedstocks) were subjected to principal component analysis to determine the principal component scores for the mix ratios to enable ranking. The total solids content of pure cow, pig, and sheep manure were found to be 19.18%, 23.50%, and 30.35% respectively. Corresponding carbon to nitrogen ratios values were 23.68, 13.27 and 29.00, pH values were 6.50, 7.90 and 7.00 and volatile content were 88.37%, 84.57% and 80.00%. Upon mixing the three manures at various mix ratios total solid content varies from 22.28% to 26.75%. Total solids content, carbon to nitrogen ratio, pH and volatile solids content varies from 22.28% to 26.75%, 18.76 to 25.05, 7.13 to 7.56 and 85.94% to 82.59% respectively. Using the first principal component scores mix ratio 1:1:3 of cow dung, pig, and sheep manure was the top-ranked followed by 3:1:3 and the third one was 1:1:2 with scores of 2.540, 1.638, and 1.580 respectively. The 4th ranked mix ratio was 1:3:3, 5th ranked was1:1:1, 6th ranked was 2:1:1, the 7th one was 3:1:1, 8th one was 1:1:2, then 3:1:1 and lastly 1:3:1 with the scores of 0.191, -0.006, -0.147, -0.259, -1.440, -1.810 and -2.287 respectively. Higher positive scores were associated with a possibility of producing higher biogas yield possibly due to the right combination of the several parameters in the mixture while a lower score might indicate a lower gas yield due to an improper combination of parameters. It was then concluded that principal component analysis is a suitable method for selecting few mix ratios to use in anaerobic digestion among the many. It saves on time and resources due to the reduced number of experiments.